Presence management refers to the task of identifying whether a given user is available to receive a communication. The concept originated, at least in part, in instant messaging products such as those provided by AOL, Yahoo and MSN. In a typical scenario, a user's availability or presence is registered into an application-specific database in response to the user logging in to a particular software application. When other users wish to contact the user, the availability is obtained from the database using an application-specific protocol. In these scenarios, presence management is tied to particular software applications (e.g. AOL, Yahoo, MSN, and instant messaging products). The applications establish presence, with some user control, when the user logs in to an application. This method limits the information to the particular applications, and is not usable from outside the application for which it was designed.
It is believed that just-in-time applications will become a more important component for increasing the efficiency of business operations. In some systems, workflow and process management components exist that define rules for routing messages. Sometimes, messages can be translated and sent to various devices. In many such systems, rules are defined to route a request to an alternative responsibility holder or approver if the request has not been answered for a predefined amount of time or if the rules were changed while the approver is absent. Because the business systems do not detect presence of the users and approvers, alternative routing is not defined in advance.